Squidform Task Master

 

At 6pm, my phone unexpectedly uttered a loud notification alarm, followed by the rattle of a small device vibrating on a tabletop. The little plastic trackball shines the occasional yellow before fading to darkness. 

When I unlock the device to see what it's on about, I'm presented with the picture of a little pink squid. Above the chibi mollusk, a yellow speech bubble reads off "Time to work! Draw something!!!" This isn't the first time it's done this; in fact, it's been doing this for over two days now. Each time reading messages like:

  • Stop snoozing! Draw something!!!
  • No more postponing! Draw something!!!

    ...and...

  • You can do it! Draw something!!!

The reminders come from a small application called Asterid, that's synced to my RememberTheMilk account. It was easy enough to put it off the first time, but it's becoming more and more difficult to ignore my squidform task master. 

Oddly enough, I have been finding myself with the growing desire to draw. This has been a problem for me for over two years now. I simply haven't had it in me to keep it up. The reasons are only outnumbered by the excuses. I'm curious, however, if by going out of my way to add a task to my list, schedule a time or day to attend to my derelict creative pursuits, that I've subconsciously given myself a reason to draw something, rather than not.